Aqua
by Patricia Sage
Summary: It seems like a normal day for Kurt and Blaine, but then they get trapped in a net and taken to the surface. How will they escape? Mermaid!Klaine


**Aqua**

**Author's Note: Terrible title, but I needed **_**something**_**. So, yeah, this is a mermaid!klaine. :D I hope you like it. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee. I just have fun with the characters, occasionally.**

Blaine knocks on the door three times. Then, he waits, moving his tail nervously through the water and toying with the pearl bracelet on his left wrist, absentmindedly. Kurt had given him that bracelet last month. Blaine hopes he will answer the door soon.

The entrance to the Hummel residence swings open and Blaine's heart leaps, but it's only Kurt's father in the doorway, not the boy himself. "Hey, Mr. Hummel," Blaine says, a charming smile on his tanned features. "How are you?"

"I'm great, kid, come on in." Burt says, opening the door wider so that Blaine can swim through. Burt Hummel is a large, intimidating merman with no hair and lots of scales. His tail is the exact colour of his son's; a mesmerizing blue/green/grey.

"How've you been, Blaine?" Burt asks, leading the young man into the living room. By now, Blaine knows the Hummel household almost as well as he knows his own. It's small, not overly furnished, but cozy.

"I've been fantastic, thanks for asking." Considering the pleasantries to be over with, Blaine brings up his reason for coming. "So, I was wondering if Kurt and I could hang out today? I haven't seen him since my family took our trip to Kelsie…we just got back. So, I was hoping that we could spend the day together?" He speaks it as a question because he's asking for permission.

Burt grabs a piece of kelp from the food box to munch on; a strict diet from Kurt since his heart-attack the year before. "That's perfectly alright with me, but why don't you go ask him? He's up in his room."

"Sure, I'll go do that," Blaine says gratefully. Even though he's known Kurt since they were little, and they've been dating for two years, he's still nervous about being on Burt's good side. Before he could swim up to Kurt's bedroom, however, the front door opens once more to reveal Kurt's tall and clumsy stepbrother, Finn, and his mother, Carol. Carol is one of those mermaids that make you feel like family, even if you aren't. She has warm brown eyes and shoulder-length hair that floats around her face.

"Dear, would you put these away?" she requests, handing some groceries to Burt. Then, she notices Blaine, politely lingering in the room. "Oh, Blaine, sweetheart! You're back from your trip!" She swims over and pulls him in for a hug. "How are you? Did you and your family have a good time?"

"Yeah, it was great," Blaine replies as she pulls away, "Cooper almost got lost at least three times, but we found him, so it was all good."

"I'm glad to hear it."

Carol's son swims over to Blaine as well, offering a fist-bump which the shorter boy reciprocates. "Hey, bro. Good to see you," Finn says.

"Likewise." Kurt's stepbrother has a green tail like his mother's and earnest brown eyes. He didn't seem to like Blaine when they had first met, but they were close now.

Finn runs a hand through his shaggy hair. "Are you here to see Kurt?"

"Yeah, I am."

Finn moves past him to get in the living room. "Well, what are you waiting for, dude?"

Blaine feels like he should say something, but everyone in the house is minding their own business. It doesn't bother the curly-haired seventeen-year-old. He actually thinks it's nice how comfortable they act around him.

With one last fond look, Blaine swims up to the second floor, down the hall, and to the left. He knocks softly on Kurt's bedroom door and can hear the swish of movement from within.

"What do you want, Finn?" Kurt calls out and Blaine can't help but grin.

"It's not Finn."

The door is thrown open to reveal an excited Kurt Hummel. His smile shines like the sun through the water. "Blaine!" he exclaims, throwing himself into his boyfriend's arms, "I didn't know you got back today!"

Blaine can't help his breathless laugh at Kurt's enthusiasm. "That's because I wanted it to be a surprise," he says, pulling his face from Kurt's bare shoulder in order to give him a light kiss on the mouth. "Surprise."

Kurt brushes their noses together. "Oh, I missed you, my charming boy."

Blaine can't keep the smile off his face. He knows he probably looks silly, but he doesn't care. "Do you want to spend the day with me?" he asks his boyfriend, staring into his stunning eyes, "Your dad already gave permission."

"How can I resist you?" The taller merman says, absently twirling one of Blaine's unruly curls. "Of course I'll spend the day with you."

Blaine reluctantly pulls out of their embrace, but takes his boyfriend's pale hand to lead him downstairs. "Where are we going, though?" Kurt asks in curiosity.

"I'm not telling," Blaine sings as they enter the living room once more.

"Another surprise? You're lucky I love you."

Blaine meets his gaze, "I know I am."

Finn and Burt are sitting on the couch while Carol prepares the food in the kitchen. Kurt quickly swims over and gives his dad a quick hug. "I'm hanging out with Blaine today. Bye, Dad. See you, Finn."

He and Blaine pass through the kitchen on their way out of the house. "Bye, Carol," Kurt calls out as they exit the door.

"Bye, boys! Have fun!" Carol replies, and then Blaine and Kurt are out of the house, swimming hand-in-hand through the town.

They barely have to think in order to know where they're going. They both grew up in the small village of Ferrin and knew the streets like the back of their hands. Since it's a weekend, quite a few merfolk are out and about.

Blaine leads Kurt to a small coral grove, where they settle down among the plant life. For their whole lives of being in each-other's company, this place has always been Kurt and Blaine's special spot. When they were five years old, this is where they'd met. As they grew up, they played together here. When they were fifteen years old, this was the place where they shared their first kiss.

The shorter boy looks over, "It's not that big of a surprise, after all, but…" he gets lost in Kurt's eyes again and forgets where he is, "I just missed you while I was gone. Two weeks was far too long."

Kurt moves a little closer and places his tail comfortably over Blaine's. His kaleidoscope of blues and greens contrasts greatly with Blaine's red/gold scales, but they fit together perfectly. "You couldn't last two weeks without me?" he teases, kissing his boyfriend's strong jaw.

"Mm, no." Blaine hums, then adds as an afterthought, "Also, spending that much time alone with Cooper nearly drove me insane." Kurt laughs as Blaine complains about his brother's crazy antics.

They sit there in contented silence for a while, enjoying each-other's company, the sun filtering through the water to make golden streaks appear in their dark hair. No words need to be said.

And then, the silence of a perfect day is broken by sudden noise and panic.

A large shadow blocks out the sun, _things_ are in the water, uprooting plants and scattering the life around them. There's yelling and a strange mechanical sound. The objects in the water get closer. Blaine and Kurt barely have time to start swimming when their progress is completely halted.

They're trapped. Neither of them can move. Rough, thin ropes are digging into their bodies painfully at every side. Blaine hears Kurt scream and faintly registers that he's yelling as well. Everything is restriction, panic, and pain.

Blaine looks out from the prison he's found himself in and he sees some merfolk have been drawn to the commotion. They're looking on with matching expressions of horror and desperation. Some of them swim forward to try and help, but feel too threatened when they get close. Blaine sees his older brother, Cooper, struggling through the crowd, screaming his name.

The prison gets tighter around them and suddenly they're moving…being pulled away from their village, away from their people, away from any semblance of safety. Blaine feels them starting to go upwards…towards the surface. _No!_ He knows what's happening, now. It's what everyone tells their young, what all the scary stories are made up of. The humans have captured them. They're being taken away.

_I'm going to die, _is Blaine's panicked thought as the place he grew up in gets farther and farther away into the distance. Instinctively, he reaches out to the thrashing form beside him in the rope bindings. Kurt seems to understand, and he grips Blaine's hand tightly. Among the _whoosh _of water going past them as they're dragged through the sea, Blaine can still hear Kurt's voice.

"I love you, Blaine!"

But, before he can reply, they break the surface of the water and find themselves being lifted into the air. There's bright sunlight—so bright it hurts, harsh voices, gasping breaths as the mermen's lungs struggle with the new air. Blaine's hand loses Kurt's somewhere in the fray. The net—because that's what it's called; Blaine recognizes it from the drawings in some of the storybooks his brother used to read him—has gotten tighter with the help of gravity.

Blaine blinks furiously, trying to fight against the blinding light and the overwhelming panic at the same time. Kurt and Blaine are trapped in a net, which is attached to a long metal arm. Their prison is moving so that it they're suspended over a large, floating device. The top of the thing—_a boat, _Blaine remembers—is crawling with humans, fumbling around and snarling at each-other in their strange language.

He wants to tell Kurt that everything's going to be okay, but the ability to speak seems to be trapped in a net of its own somewhere in Blaine's body. Instead, all he can do is watch as the net is lowered closer to the humans, who are holding bizarre, spear-like weapons in their hands as they get nearer.

Kurt, always a fighter, is struggling and swearing at the humans. A strange pride blossoms in Blaine's chest, among the terror clogging his windpipe. This quickly disappears, though, as the humans growl at each-other and one of them points his weapon at them and a loud _bang_ rings out. There's a cry of pain from Kurt and Blaine's not sure if his boyfriend is bleeding or if he's just seeing red from the rage that fills him.

There's a sting in his lower back, and Blaine instinctively reaches for the source of the pain. His hand comes back up with a strange object. It's made up of some kind of small cylinder with a thin, sharp piece of metal coming from it. The transparent cylinder is about a quarter full of a strange liquid. Before his mind can draw any conclusions from this object, his mind goes fuzzy and his muscles go slack.

He falls into unconsciousness, worried thoughts of Kurt the last thing he remembers.

* * *

Blaine wakes up with a pounding headache, accompanied by a flare of panicked confusion. He feels painfully dehydrated and wonders how long he's been out. His eyes flash open and take in his surroundings at lightning speed.

There's wooden floors and walls surrounding them, not to mention a low roof that makes Blaine feel like he's about to be crushed. Since he's used to the endless expanse of the ocean, this room makes him feel quite stifled. Not only that, but his wrists are bound in front of him by a thick and scratching rope. Blaine's sprawled out on the floor in an uncomfortable way and he notices that his tail has lost a few scales due to the harsh circumstances. The pearl bracelet he had been wearing before was now a scattering of stones across the floorboards.

To his right, bound in a similar fashion, is Kurt. Upon seeing him, Blaine feels a flood of relief combined with a flare of concern. His boyfriend is facing him, unmoving and clearly unconscious. There's a small pool of crimson on the floor below him, the result of the steady seeping of blood from a wound in his arm. Blaine can't tell the extent of the damage, due to all the blood, but he can tell by Kurt's paler-than-usual complexion that the blood loss is taking its toll.

He's just struggling to get closer to Kurt when he hears voices coming from outside the only door in the room. Obviously, he can't understand the human language, but it sounds like they're in an argument of some sort. One of the voices is higher—a female, probably—and more pleasant, and the other is snide and rude, and sounds like a man's voice.

Their conversation reaches a high point and suddenly the door is thrown open to reveal two humans, staring down at him. Blaine tries his best to look unafraid as he analyses them. The female is shorter, with slanted eyes and streaks of unnatural colour in her long, black hair. The male is brown-haired and very tall, with an angular face fixed into a sneer. He snarls something, gesturing towards the bound mermen, then slams the door loudly as he leaves the room.

Blaine looks up into the brown eyes of the female, preparing himself to protect Kurt to the best of his ability, no matter what the cost.

* * *

Tina never wanted to be in the capturing business, especially regarding the merfolk. She had only taken it on because Mike had lost his own job and they desperately needed the money.

The first few weeks had been uneventful and unsuccessful, and Tina had tried not to show her relief that none of the merfolk had been captured by them. Usually, when this happens, a ship abandons the area and tries in another place, but the captain of their ship, Sebastian, was too determined and stubborn to give up. Apparently, his instincts were correct about this area, and they came upon a merfolk village after another week.

It broke Tina's heart to see the two mermen trapped in the net, panicked and in pain. They struggled fiercely and she could barely see them as they were hauled in, but she could tell that they would definitely be good to sell; people would pay a lot for beautiful creatures like them.

One of them was shot and the other sedated, and they were both thrown into one of the cabins below deck. Tina knows that they can't survive for very long in these conditions, and she seeks out the Captain.

"What do you want, Tina?" Sebastian snaps at her. He's unfurling his map in the captain's quarters, judging the fastest way to get home, so that he can sell his merchandise before they get too damaged.

Tina's nervous. She's never talked to Sebastian before, but this is important. "I-I was w-w-wondering if I could g-go check on the mermen." She only stutters when she's under pressure.

Sebastian sighs and turns around to face her. She tries not to shrink under his piercing gaze. "And why would you want to do that?"

"B-because, if no one gives them any kind of c-c-care, they're going to d-die before we can reach a port."

The tall boy lets out a sigh, then turns briskly away. "Fine," he says with his back to her, "You do what you have to, but do not get in the way of anyone else, and do not mess with this operation. It's imperative that this goes well, do you understand?"

"Y-yes, sir. I only have the b-best interests in mind, sir."

He waves a hand in her direction. "Of course you do. Now get out of my sight."

She wants to point out that she's technically not in his sight at the moment, but refrains. It was that kind of attitude that got her fired from her old job. "Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."

Tina makes her way down to where the mermen are being held. The other crewmembers don't pay her any attention as she walks by. She wonders if they even know her name. However, she is offered some resistance when she actually arrives outside the room. Jesse St James is the posted guard.

"Hi, Jesse," she says, and isn't surprised when the man doesn't reply. Even though they grew up in the same neighbourhood, he refuses to acknowledge that they know each-other.

"What do you want?" he says harshly, instead. Jesse used to be in the same performing group that Mike had danced in, until they were disbanded. He hates his new job.

Even though the guard is being harsh to her, Tina isn't nervous, so she doesn't stutter when she tells him what she's here for.

"Are you kidding? I can't let you go in there! It's my duty to make sure that no one gets in or out, so I can't allow you access." He shoulders his gun aggressively and Tina rolls her eyes.

"Come on, Jesse. I already told you that I got permission from the Captain himself."

He narrows his eyes. "You could be lying."

"And what could I gain from that?"

"I don't know," he snarls, still firmly in front of the door, "Your family is full of weirdoes who fight for merfolk rights. You could be trying to get them out."

"And how do you suggest I do that?" Tina retorts sharply.

Before Jesse can reply, Puck walks over and taps him on the shoulder. "Hey dude, I'm here to take over your shift, but I have to use the bathroom quick. So, get whatever this is," he gestures between Tina and Jesse vaguely, "finished up and I'll come back in two minutes to relieve you."

Jesse sighs. "You know what, whatever. Go on in." He opens the door quickly and points at the bound creatures. "Oh look, one of them is awake. I hope it eats you." With that, he leaves the room and shuts it behind the girl.

The smaller one with the curly hair and the gorgeous red tail is glaring at her. Tina isn't surprised or insulted in the least. She notices the way that he places himself in front of the other one, who is still unconscious and obviously hurt.

"I mean you no harm," she says as gently as she can, trying to look non-threatening. The look in the merman's hazel eyes tells her that he doesn't believe her. Also, he probably doesn't understand her language, anyway.

Tina realizes she's being very insensitive, then says slowly in the merfolk tongue, "I no hurt you." She's not the most fluent, but when her grandmother had taught her this language, she had learned fast and retained the information enough to be able to communicate.

The surprise on the merman's face is almost comical. He starts to speak very quickly, and Tina only catches a few words here and there. His accent almost throws her off completely; it's so pretty and has a fluidity that she can only dream of possessing one day. She tries to stop his flow of words with hand gestures, and he stops speaking, looking at her with a calculating gaze.

"I am Tina," she says, daring to move forward a little, "I know little merfolk language. But I help you."

"I'm Blaine," the merman says. He obviously caught on, because he speaks slowly as well for her to understand.

Tina points at the unconscious merman with the blue/green tail. "Him?"

"He is Kurt."

* * *

Blaine doesn't know what to think of this human. He can't believe that she can speak his language, however halting and slow her speech may be. He's still not sure if he can trust this Tina, however.

And then she pulls out a knife.

Blaine immediately brings his arms up in front of him, even though they are bound together and almost useless in a fight. He snarls at her, and her eyes grow wide, "No!" she exclaims, then struggles to find the words, "I no hurt you," she says again, "I cut rope."

Blaine is very hesitant to offer his wrists to a human brandishing a knife but, after analysing his options, slowly extends his arms. He watches her every movement and tries to read her eyes for any type of threat. However, she saws through the ropes with ease and doesn't make any actions against Blaine.

When she moves to go to Kurt, however, Blaine's protectiveness smothers his hesitant trust. He quickly reaches over and grabs the knife. There's a little surprise and fear in Tina's eyes, but he doesn't make any moves towards her, simply cutting Kurt's bindings himself.

Blaine places himself between Kurt and Tina, then offers the knife back to her, the point facing him. It's the ultimate offering of trust, and both the human and the merman know this. Tina carefully takes the knife and places it back in its sheath in her boot. They both let out a breath, but don't relax completely.

Then, their eye contact is broken as Kurt lets out a whimper and moves.

* * *

Blaine turns around in an instant, and Tina knows that he's either decided to trust her completely or Kurt takes precedence over anything else. The other merman opens his eyes. They're the same colour as his tail and are filled with pain and confusion. His gaze latches onto Blaine's and he seems to simply stare at him for a while, until Tina shifts a bit and he catches sight of her behind Blaine.

Then, he's yelling and moving and gasping in pain and trying to move away, trying to move Blaine away, until Blaine places a calming hand on him and starts speaking as well. It's way too fast and fluent for Tina to understand, but there's something in the way that Blaine's speaking, in the way that Kurt relaxes under his words that shows complete trust in the other merman.

Tina doesn't know if it's just the way that their species interacts, or they're _together_. The way that Blaine holds onto Kurt's hands and the way that Kurt doesn't break eye-contact with Blaine, as if the other person is their lifeline. And then, Tina truly sees the look in their eyes which confirms that, yes, they are in love. And this doesn't faze her at all. In fact, it makes her want to help them escape that much more.

Also, it doesn't escape the human's notice that Blaine is showing immense trust in her at this moment. She doesn't take it lightly either.

When Blaine finishes speaking softly to Kurt—Tina catches her own name in there a couple times, but can't translate much more than that—he turns to her and says slowly, "Can you heal him?"

This brings her attention to Kurt's arm, and Blaine gives her room to see, but remains as close to the other merman as possible. Kurt tenses up when she moves closer. "I no hurt you," she says for the third time, wondering how much of a simpleton she must sound to them. The merman's eyes are guarded, but he allows her into his personal space. Also, he seems too weak to do anything, even if he wanted to.

Tina examines his wound carefully, trying to make it as painless as possible and gauge the extent of the damage. Thankfully, it doesn't look like the bullet is still lodged in his arm. In fact, it looks as if someone had non-too-gently taken it out, not even bothering to clean the wound or bandage it in any way. She feels another flare of hatred for the people she's working with. They treat these beautiful creatures like they aren't even _beings_.

She gently pats Kurt's hand and then moves away from them to a respectful distance. "I come back," she says, and then leaves the room.

She's walking away when she hears Puck call after her. "Tina," he says, and she walks back to him like a child caught trying to run away. She knows what he's going to say. She hopes that she has judged his character correctly. "I can hear things through the door, you know," he states. She nods, looking him directly in the eye. He sighs, "And I'm just going to pretend that I didn't hear what I did hear, okay?"

Tina smiles at him gratefully, "Okay. Thank you, Puck."

"Are you going to be back?"

She turns around, "Yes, as soon as I get the supplies I need."

He nods, "Then, I guess I'll take a double shift today."

* * *

Sebastian isn't in the captain's quarters this time. He's on the deck, looking out at the expanse of the ocean. There is no sign of land on the horizon.

"E-excuse me, Captain." Tina hesitantly approaches him.

"What do you want now, Tina?"

The girl is thankful that she's on Sebastian's good side today. "Um, I, well, I need some supplies…f-for the mermen."

His long hands grip the railing. "And what supplies do you need?" She can't read his tone of voice, so she just tells him.

"Well, K-one of them is hurt," she almost lets slip the merman's name and catches herself quickly, "and he needs bandages and disinfectant. They're both severely dehydrated and they need some food and water."

"And, why should I give these things to you?" He still hasn't turned to look at her.

Tina swallows. "Well, if you don't, they'll both be dead before we reach the shore. And, you know that puts them next-to-useless on the Market."

Finally, he turns to her, and Tina notices the dark circles under his eyes. He's doing all of this to gain approval from his father, she knows this, and it's taking its toll. "Fine. As long as you deal with them. They're your responsibility to keep in acceptable shape. But don't let them get too strong; we can't have them _escaping_." His eyes flash dangerously, and Tina nods her head rapidly. He turns away again, the setting sun putting gold in his dark hair. "You know where the supplies are. You have my permission."

* * *

Kurt's eyes are shining a blindingly bright blue. "Blaine, are you sure we can trust her? What if she—"

"No," Blaine says, hugging his boyfriend close to him and trying to warm him up as they wait for Tina to return, "I don't know if we can trust her. But, she seems nice enough. And she speaks a little of our language, which definitely counts for something, right?"

Kurt sighs, "I guess. But it still doesn't feel right. She's still on this ship. She's part of this whole operation."

"We just have to take a leap of faith, I guess."

"Yeah, I guess," Kurt buries his face in Blaine's curls, "Blaine, I just want to go home. I want to see my Dad again and the rest of my family and what will happen to them if we don't return? They'll feel so guilty. What about Cooper? We need to get back, Blaine, I don't know what we'll do if we can't—" his words are choked off by a block in his throat, and he fights to keep tears from falling.

Blaine holds him close, with a strong hand clasped at the back of Kurt's neck in support and comfort. "Shh, I've got you." Blaine whispers, not thinking about what he's saying, only wanting to make his boyfriend feel a little better, "We're going to be alright. We'll get out of this, I promise."

Kurt's clinging to his boyfriend's strong shoulder, taking shuddering breaths and trying to calm down, when Tina opens the door once more. She's pushing what appears to be a large cart, on top of which rests a bucket of water and a box. Kurt flinches when she enters the room and Blaine once again places himself in front of his boyfriend.

"What are you going to do?" The merman with the red tail asks slowly.

The human blinks a little, before formulating her response. "I help. I bring water and…healing for Kurt."

Blaine takes a breath and then nods, giving her unspoken consent to move forward. Tina carefully carries the wooden bucket over to the two mermen. She hands it to Blaine, who takes it. He turns to Kurt and pours half of the water onto him, and then the other half on himself. Almost immediately Blaine can feel his skin get hydrated again, and Kurt is looking a little better also.

Tina looks a little astonished, then snaps out of it and grabs the box off of the cart as well. She crouches in front of Kurt, and Blaine can't help but tense up again. Even though this human has done nothing to betray his hesitant trust, Blaine doesn't like taking this kind of risk where Kurt's wellbeing is involved.

She opens the box, and Blaine analyses the contents critically. Tina first takes out a bottle and opens the cap. "This hurt a little," she says softly to Kurt and he stiffly nods in understanding. Then she pours some liquid over the wound in his arm and the pale merman hisses in pain. Blaine snarls. However, Kurt quickly reassures his boyfriend that he's alright and the shorter man backs down.

Tina wipes up the blood with a cloth and then takes out a type of thin white material, which she wraps snugly around Kurt's arm. It's nothing like the healing rituals at home, but Kurt looks a little steadier, so Blaine is grateful.

"What now?" he asks. The human seems to understand.

She looks contemplative for a minute. "I come back later in the night," she says, "Then I help you leave." Her speech is halted and she doesn't know enough words to completely express her thoughts, but Blaine thinks he understands. _I'll return to you later, when everyone is asleep and then I'll help you escape off the boat._ At least, he hopes he was getting the proper translation.

Once Tina leaves again, Kurt pulls Blaine into his arms. Blaine rests his cheek against his boyfriend's chest and listens to his steady heartbeat. All they can do is hope…and wait.

It's about midnight and snores echo around the bunks. Tina hasn't slept at all since she climbed into her hammock; instead she's stared at the bed above her, waiting for the right moment. Now seems as good a time as any; all she hears is sounds of sleeping men and women around her.

Carefully swinging her legs off her bed, Tina silently makes her way through across the floor towards the ladder leading to the deck. No one notices her departure. She moves like the wind, barely noticeable under the moonlight as she creeps across the deck. Soon enough, she is standing in front of the room where the mermen are kept.

Puck is leaning against the door, asleep.

"Puck," she whisper-shouts, shaking the guard awake. He looks up at her through bleary brown eyes.

"Oh, hey Tina. What's up, girl?"

She rolls her eyes. "Are you ready to go through with what we discussed?"

"Yeah, sure," he mumbles, running a hand through his mohawk and standing up. "Remind me again why I'm doing this?"

"Because you're a wonderful human being," Tina replies, kissing him on the cheek. He looks vaguely pleased and opens the door for her.

The mermen being held captive immediately move into protective stances. Kurt looks like he's doing better, and Blaine looks even more protective of the other merman, if possible. Tina is strangely happy when they relax a little upon recognizing her.

However, they notice Puck and start snarling at him. Blaine is whisper-shouting at her and his speech is too rapid for Tina to make anything out. She makes frantic gestures for them to be calm.

When they reluctantly simmer down, Tina speaks in the mermaid tongue, "This is Puck. He is a friend. He helps you." Blaine's eyes are guarded, but Kurt places a hand on the other merman's arm to calm him down. The curly-haired one nods in resignation. They have no choice but to blindly trust these two humans.

After a rough explanation of the plan, using the limited vocabulary that Tina possesses, everyone is basically on the same page. Puck and Tina help the mermen onto the cart that Tina had left in there. It's handy because it has wheels on it for easy transportation. It's what they had used to bring Kurt and Blaine to this room while they were unconscious.

Kurt and Blaine try their best to not look terrified, but Tina sees that they're scared. She wishes she could do something to make them feel better, but knows that the best thing she can do is make sure they get free.

Tina sneaks along in front of the others as Puck rolls the cart. The girl is glancing around every corner, looking for any kind of threat to the operation. Puck is trying to move as silently as possible.

However, no matter how stealthy they tried to be, Jesse St James still managed to catch them.

"Tina! Puck! What the hell do you think you're doing!?" he yells. Tina swears. Of course, Jesse had to decide to take a midnight walk.

Jesse's yell shatters the quiet around them. Soon, he's screaming for the captain, screaming for everyone on the boat, and there's the sound of movement all around them as the crew springs to life. Tina, Puck, Kurt and Blaine know that they'll be caught any moment. Tina's frozen in fear, Puck is acting aggressive, Kurt is grabbing for his boyfriend's arm to try and keep him out of harm's way, and Blaine is yelling.

Blaine is yelling at Tina.

Tina catches his eye. She's not sure what he's saying, but she understands the actions he's frantically giving her. He's waving his arms and pointing towards the edge of the boat, towards the water so tantalizingly close.

And, all of a sudden, it's the humans and not the mermen who have to instill a little blind trust.

Tina makes a decision. She runs towards Puck, shooting him a quick comment of, "Just trust me," and starts to push the cart. Puck looks from her to all of the crewmembers starting to swarm on the deck…he runs after her.

They're sprinting at full speed towards the side of the boat. The rest of the men on the ship are yelling and swearing, Sebastian is staring in shock, and the four runaways are functioning on adrenaline. They run the cart straight into the side of the boat, and somehow all four of them—Blaine, Kurt, Tina, and Puck—fall over the side and plummet towards the water below.

Tina can't see, she can't breathe, she doesn't know which way is up and the water seems to be crushing her. However, before things became completely hopeless, she feels a strong arm wrap around her waist and suddenly she's being moved very quickly.

When she breaks the surface, she gasps for air. The mystery person's arm is still holding her up in firm grip, keeping her shoulders above the water so that she has comfortable room to breathe. Tina wonders who can tread water so well.

Then, she hears a musical voice near from behind her, from behind the person whose strong chest she feels pressed up against her back. It's speaking a language she remembers from happy times spent with her grandmother. She looks down and sees a blue/green tail moving steadily below her, keeping her upright. "Kurt?" she manages to splutter out.

He doesn't answer, but Tina knows for sure that it's him because, beside her, she sees Blaine holding up a coughing Puck. The two mermen are speaking rapidly to each-other. Finally, Kurt addresses her.

"Tina, are you alright?" he asks her softly. She notices that they've slowly started to swim backwards, so she can see the ship getting smaller and smaller as they move.

She nods, "Yeah." Blaine is swimming right beside them, trying to talk to Puck. Tina decides to help out a little, "Puck, it's okay. Stop moving, you're making it hard for Blaine to swim." Puck looks at her like she's crazy, but he stops struggling against Blaine's strong grip across his chest.

"We will take to you land," Kurt says, and Tina allows herself to relax as well. She refuses to let herself dwell on what has happened, simply living in the moment. Then, as she's looking out in front of her, she notices a small trail of blood.

"Kurt, you're bleeding!" she blurts out, forgetting to speak in merfolk language. Instead, she twists around a little to get a good look at the wound. It's located on the arm which is holding Tina still. The bandage must have unraveled when they fell off the boat. She gingerly touches it, and Kurt gasps. "Sorry!"

Kurt says, "It's okay. I'm fine." But, Tina doesn't believe him. And, by the look in Blaine's eyes, neither does his fellow merman.

They swim for about an hour until they reach land. They can see the lights of a city about a mile away on the land. Blaine and Kurt gently bring their human companions as far up the beach as they can until Tina and Puck can touch their feet to the sand on the bottom. Submerged up to their waist in water, they turn around to look at the mermen who saved them. Kurt and Blaine look steadily back at them.

Tina clears her throat, "Thank you," she says.

Kurt and Blaine grasp each-other's hands tightly, "No, thank _you,_" Blaine says softly. Then, they submerge themselves and swim away.

* * *

When they first get home, it seems like Cooper will never stop crying.

It also seems like he will never let Blaine go. It takes a lot of complaining from his little brother—"Cooper, you're suffocating me!"—before Blaine can escape.

Burt, Carol and Finn also shed some tears, but they are of happiness and not guilt like Cooper's. "Never do that to me again, you hear?" Burt murmurs into his son's hair when they hug.

After some time, things finally get back to normal. Kurt's arm heals and so does their families' broken hearts.

But, Kurt and Blaine will never be able to forget what happened.

**Author's Second Note: What did you think of this story? Please tell me what you thought of my take on a mermaid!klaine situation. :) Also, GO NOW and read AngelisIgniRelucent's companion story for this one; it's called "Not For Anyone".**

**Take care.**

**-Patricia Sage**


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